God acts at his appointed time. Since the beginning of the human story, God has been making promises and acting at his appointed time to fulfill them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words appointed\ntime <\/em>always bring to mind one of my favorite biblical friends, Abram. He\nand his wife Sarai were aged and childless when the Lord called him to leave\nhis home and kinfolks for a land he would show him. \u201cI will make you into a\ngreat nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be\na blessing\u201d (Genesis 12:2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Abram followed, the Lord appeared to him again saying, \u201cTo\nyour offspring I will give this land\u201d (12:7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Again the Lord repeated the promise. \u201cLift up your eyes from\nwhere you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see\nI will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like\nthe dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your\noffspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the\nland, for I am giving it to you\u201d (13:14-17).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Who can blame Abram for wondering how this could happen? Did\nhe think God was unaware the promise sounded impossible? Finally he states the\nobvious\u2014addressing the elephant in the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou have given me no children\u201d (15:3). Abram suggested the\npromise be fulfilled through his servant, Eliezer (his rightful heir, according\nto custom).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have you noticed God prefers doing things his way? He told Abram \u201ca son coming from your own body will be your heir\u201d (verse 4).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have you noticed God prefers doing things his way? <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span>\n\n\n\n Then he restated the promise. \u201cLook up at the heavens and count the stars\u2014if indeed you can count them\u2026So shall your offspring be\u2019\u201d (verse 5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Abram\u2019s response: he \u201cbelieved the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness\u201d (15:6).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Verse 18 says, \u201c\u2026the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, \u2018To your descendants I give this land\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next came a shocking interruption. Sarai crafted a plan to\nhelp God a bit, suggesting that Abram have a child with her maidservant, Hagar.\nAbram agreed, and when he was eighty-six his son Ishmael was born. But he was\nnot the promised son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, \u2018I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers\u2026You will be the father of many nations\u2019\u201d (Genesis 17:1-2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Lord changed Abram\u2019s name to Abraham and Sarai\u2019s to\nSarah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I\nwill bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will\ncome from her\u201d (17:16).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Abraham did what any rational person would do. He fell facedown, laughed, and said to himself, \u201cWill a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?\u201d (verse 17).<\/p>\n\n\n\n To God he said, \u201cIf only Ishmael might live under your blessing!\u201d The Lord promised to bless Ishmael and make him fruitful. But \u201cyour wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him\u2026my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year\u201d (see 17:18-22).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Again the Lord appeared to Abraham saying, \u201cI will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son\u201d (18:10).<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Sarah\u2014well beyond the age of childbearing\u2014heard this,\nshe laughed to herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThen the Lord said to Abraham, \u2018Why did Sarah laugh and say, \u2018Will I really have a child, now that I am old?\u2019 Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son\u2019\u201d (18:13-14).<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s my favorite part\u2026at the appointed time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Genesis 21 begins, \u201cNow the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\nGod put all the puzzle pieces together to complete his plan\u2014at just the right moment. He\u2019s been doing that throughout history. <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span>\n\n\n\n God appointed the time and he put all the puzzle pieces together to complete his plan\u2014at just the right moment. He\u2019s been doing that throughout history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The omniscient, all-powerful Lord God Most\nHigh is involved in the universe he created. No one else is able to keep up\nwith it all. Knowing he\u2019s in control and will act at his appointed time allows\nme to rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Please tell me how God showed up in your life at his appointed time. And share this with friends who are waiting for promises to be fulfilled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a9 Dianne Barker 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scriptures from NIV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" God acts at his appointed time. Since the beginning of the human story, God has been making promises and acting at his appointed time to fulfill them. The words appointed time always bring to mind one of my favorite biblical friends, Abram. He and his wife Sarai were aged and childless when the Lord called […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[90,9,352,189,354,353],"class_list":["post-1018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-abraham","tag-dianne-barker","tag-god-acts-at-his-appointed-time-and-i-can-count-on-it","tag-isaac","tag-sarah","tag-waiting-on-god"],"yoast_head":"\n